Kid and Paw Art Day-October 16, 2010

Look for Skye and Rhett at the first annual, "Kid and Paw" Art Day at Fast Frame Dilworth, on Saturday October 16, 2010. The address is 1235 East Blvd Charlotte, NC 28203...

Labor Day Sale

Huge Labor Day Sale, all custom Framing is 35% off....ONE DAY ONLY. Our store hours 10 to 6.....

Framing a Violin

Framing isn't always a canvas or photograph, it can be something very special for a loved one. Recently, we had a client that wanted to honor his wife's love of music. In her younger years, she was a talented violinist and played for over 40 years. To honor his loved one he wanted to frame her violin and the sheet music of there love song. In this blog, we would like to share this wonderful peice of artwork...

Framing Siemens Soccer Jersey's

Recently, we collaborated with Fast Signs of Charlotte to frame the Siemens Soccer Team. The frame was a shallow shadow box in black, with a white mat lining on the sides. Fast Signs printed the graphics on the white Mat, and then we placed the Jersey's on the mat. The Jerseys were hand sewn to ensure correct placement and stability. We also floated two plaques inside the frame to provide depth to the image.

I want to thank Ben Knight of Fast Signs on South Tryon for this opportunity.

Dress Up Your Frames with Fillets

Finishing touches and added details are generally what set any great design apart from one that is nice but ordinary. For example, a room filled with beautiful furniture tends to look unfinished until the accessories have been added. A brand new shiny car is cheapened if it is missing hubcaps. The same is true with custom frame design. Adding the right details can take framing from ordinary to extraordinary.

Fillets are one of the options, you can use to add finishing touches to the frame design. Fortunately there are hundreds of fillet options to chose from today. That wasn't the case in the past, There isn't good data to show when fillets were first introduced to custom framing.

Fillets never seemed to gain mainstream popularity until recently. In the past 20 years they finally became a sensation. Today, there are fillet choices in a wide range of colors, styles and profile shapes. There are great options for nearly any framing project. Today it is most common to see fillets in mat openings, but they are still used inside frames, too. They can also be used in a few other, less common ways.

PFM, May 2010: Article by Greg Perkins. Page 26

How to choose the best Glazing (Glass) for your artwork?

Many may ask, What is Glazing?

Glazing is the covering the artwork with a form of glass or acrylic to protect the artwork. The ideal glazing material would transmit, without distorting, all of the light in visible spectrum and would block ultraviolet rays. It would resist impact and carry no static charge; (framing of larger pieces acrylic should be used and not glass.)

Aging:

The only aging process glass is subject to which may be of interest to customers is that, with time, microscopic surface scratches may slightly reduce light transmissions. Acrylic, like all organic materials, ages but very slowly.

Deflection and Thickness:

Glass is rigid, and in picture frames deflection is barely perceptible and unlikely to pose a risk to framed art. Acrylic sheet is flexible and subject to deflection, which distorts reflections. The major concern of framers is that acrylic glazing may bow in, touching a framed work of art. Secondly, acrylic is subject to high static charge and when framing loose media, such as charcoal, chalk, or pastel, and thin or lightly sized papers will be attracted to static charged acrylic glazing. increasing the distance between acrylic and framed artwork lessens the attraction, but to be effective a separation of several inches may be necessary. Glass would be a better alternative when framing these materials.

UV Protection:

Standard picture glass absorbs most of the UV rays and offers little or no protection from fading of the artwork. However, there are several glass sheets that offer up to 97% UV protection; these sheets are coated and have laminated sheets between two sheets of glass. At Fast Frame-Dilworth we recommend Tru Vue Conservation Clear or Museum Glass.

On your next trip to your local frame shop, hopfully you'll select Fast Frame Dilworth, please consider asking these questions:

1. Is the artwork susceptible to UV damage?
2. Under what lighting conditions is the work to be displayed?
3. Is it likely that the work will be shipped?
4. Is the media loose?
5. How stiff is the paper support?

Source: (PFM February 1996, Glazing page 36-37)

What do Framing Cutomers Really Want.

When it comes to buying custom framing, a customer's true goals are:

1. Maximize value for money

2. An item that performs a purpose to fulfill their desire, such as a frame.

3. Maximize the overall experience-that is the feeling for that custom framed peice.

At the end of the day, framing customers are actually driven more by the "feeling" of buying the frame than they are by the frame itself because they value that experience more. The feelings for that special artwork, are the true motivator for custom framing.

The magic of being able to transform a customers treasured memory into a timeles masterpeice is such a rewarding experince for our customers and us as well.